A Worldwide Problem

14

People come up to me and say, he Alstry in real life....you were right on your call about what was coming.....and things now look real bad and getting worse.......do you think we should move to China like Jimmy Rogers, or this place or that........?????

At the present time my response is I am not sure where one can escape the tsunami. I just can't see the "decoupling" argument. If a change is desired.....I just don't think you can logically make a choice looking for a place hoping for a better economic outlook with the current set of facts.

There are many places with much to offer...each with their own virtues and vices......both here and abroad......if you are going to change make it logical.....factor things like the culture is more to your liking, the people look better, good schools, great activities......whatever.

i would'nt move. the "locals rule" rule is only stronger in a strange place and xenaphobia sets in during extreme adversity. nothing quite like the Stranger to blame for your woes.

i consider it a lifesyle change, a cultural shift if you will...

if it lasts over 5 years, society will swing its penduleum away from consuming.

frugality, conservation, banding together, and being intensly responsible are all going to be back in fashion. cooking at home (i don't mean hamburger helper), sewing, gardening, and homemade music will blossom. the consumer culture may wither. crime will blossom and so will prisons. people will become hard hearted at one extreme and very giving at the other. unions will return after a time, perhaps after somebody figures out that Trickle Down doesn't include them. it has only been 28 years since the Reagan Revolution, and darned if deregulation does'nt seem to have worked very well. fiscal controls and personal liberalism may be the order of the day.

once again i reccomend "Hard Times" by Studs Terkel(R.I.P). hundreds of oral histories by folks who lived thru the GD. good reading and good advice. not dry facts but passionate memories.

of course all of this will be thru a 21st century filter. technology that brings information to the masses at light speed will have a big effect, don't you think? pollution and disease will be a factor because of overcrowding.

and it may have been long enough and scarey enough to cause people to seek refuge in conformity, drapped in military trappings. they call it Neo-something...

Those of you who are thinking of cutting and running are fools......despite all the problems this country has it's still the best one going. Who ever is thinking of moving hasn't done much international traveling. Get a clue......stay put and hunker down, have a beer find yourself a woman, or man depending on your lifestyle and have some fun...........things will get better :o)

I just came back 2 years living in China. I think a logical person can look at different countries and determine which is in a better position to prosper for his or her position.

As I look at China I see a country that is very similar to the US of 1960 and moving at warp speed to 2008 and beyond. The middle class is growing, restrictions are being lifted on travel, protest, and many other things people in the US hold dear.

While I was in China I was told by a brit "we let the Americans worry about the workin environment, we just do business here."

Sometime you cannot fix the ill of everyone, sometime the US way is not the best way, and sometimes you have to see the advantages of a systems for the circumstances.

A democracy is slow and expensive, central government is quick and inexpensive.

Could I live in China for the rest of my life? Yes. Could every american? No. But do not look at other countries with jaded eyes because they do not do things the american way, maybe the american way is not the best way for them at this time.